Britain’s Leona Lewis (3-time Grammy Award nominee) performs the end title song, “I See You” for the epic movie adventure Avatar. The Hollywood Foreign Press has honored “I See You” with a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song – Motion Picture. Avatar was also nominated for Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Director – Motion Picture (James Cameron), and Best Original Score – Motion Picture (James Horner).

Lewis, who just released her new album “Echo,” was hand-picked by Cameron to record the song for Avatar, which opened this weekend. “I See You,” is produced by James Horner and Simon Franglen, the team behind the movie, Titanic’s blockbuster theme song, “My Heart Will Go On.”

Avatar is a visual masterpiece and it is wonderful. Unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. It’s as if James Cameron, the Oscar winning director of Titanic, entered into his dream worlds and came back to earth and recreated scenes that are beyond the physical. Avatar is sensational entertainment. It is technology of the future. And, it comes with a message of love. Love for life. And, a message of anti-war. It’s a technical renaissance. In fact, it is a new way of making movies. It contains such stunning visuals that one could see it repeatedly and see new things each time. It also invents a new language, Na’vi, as “Lord of the Rings” did.  It is a moment in time that will live forever. What a great way to start the beginning of a new decade in the 21^st century.  

James Cameron wrote and directed Avatar, proving once again that he is a master when it comes to movie-making. There is no doubt about that. His use of visual effects, motion-capture mavens, stunt performers, dancers, actors and music and sound magicians, brings science-fiction movies into the 21st century with the jaw-dropping wonder that is Avatar. And he did it almost from scratch. 

Plus, he has written a story that has a profound message. There is no underlying novel, legend or myth to generate his story. He draws from the Native American Indians as well as today’s adventurous cliff-diving and parasailing, along with Western movies like Dances With Wolves. He touches on the problems of earth like our resources being depleted and the American tragedy in Vietnam.

Cameron conceived this story 15 ago, but didn’t have the technology to bring it to fruition. So, he went out and created it in collaboration with the best “special effects” minds in the business. This is motion capture brought to a new high where every detail of the actors’ performances gets preserved in the final CG character as they appear on the screen. The eyes are big and expressive as if the human entity walked into the blue body. It took Cameron 4 years to produce this, and after watching it, you can understand why. His attention to detail is impressive.

The story takes place in 2154, three decades after a multinational corporation has established a mining colony on Pandora, a planet light years from Earth. A toxic environment and hostile natives forces the human colony to interact with the natives on Pandora through the use of their “Avatar.”  

The lead male, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), is a disabled former Marine who has lost the use of his legs and is now in a wheelchair. He takes his late twin brother’s place in the Avatar program. His job is to study Pandora, become one of them (through the use of his Avatar which looks like the Na’vi) and hopefully, convince them to relocate from their current location on their planet. The earthlings want something that is priceless on this planet and in the specific location of this tribe of people.

Without any training, Jake must learn how to link his consciousness to an Avatar, a remotely controlled biological body that mixes human DNA with that of the native population, the Na’vi. Jake loves this because, in this new body, he can run and walk again. He immediately becomes entangled with Pandora’s inhabitants.

The planet is a fairyland – a fantasy land – dreamed up by Cameron. Sigourney Weaver, who plays Dr. Grace Augustine, a scientist who has studied the Na’vi for a long time and also uses an Avatar body to intermingle with them, commented on the Craig Ferguson TV show that Cameron used his extensive knowledge of the deep sea to create this planet, Pandora. And one can easily see the connection. There are flying dragons, magic plants, gigantic out-of-this-world colored flowers, wispy “seeds” that float with luminescent light and much, much more. Instead of looking like a far-flung corner of our own world, the lush, verdant planet of Pandora is like nothing we have seen before. The plant life here is shockingly unearthly, while the inhabitants appear to have followed a completely different evolutionary path to those we are used to; the sentient ones are sleek, ten-foot tall, blue-skinned creatures. They have large, round yellow eyes. Everything is in bright 3D realism. Along with the people, there are ferocious animals and hypnotic creepy-crawlies and feral dogs that fly through the air in a rain forest with a highly advanced spiritual design.  It seems there is a flow of energy that serves as a conduit through the roots of trees and the spores of the plants, which the Na’vi know how to tap into. This energy contains all the memories and thoughts of their planet – a kind “Book of Knowledge.”

The center of life is a holy tree where tribal memories and the wisdom of their ancestors is theirs for the asking. This is what the humans want to strip-mine. Jake manages to get taken in by one tribe where a powerful, dread-locked Amazonian/warrior named Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) takes him under her wing to teach him how to live in the forest, speak the language and honor the traditions of nature. And, eventually, they fall in love. When Jake is awake in his human body, he is “asleep” in his Na’vi body. And when he’s in his Na’vi body, he’s asleep in his human body. Jake pilots his Na’vi body remotely from an orbiting spaceship. What he doesn’t realize is that he may be part of a covert strategy to investigate the planet’s potentially lucrative natural resources.

Jake becomes so involved in his life on Pandora that he comments that he doesn’t know which world is real anymore. For anyone who has adventurous dreams, you’ll be able to relate. (Sometimes, a dream may seem more real than waking life.) It is this way in this movie. Cameron touches on many spiritual principles and beliefs, as well as love – no matter what your body looks like. Jake and Neytiri must overcome obstacles and learn each other’s heart. The Na’vi have a saying, “I see you,” which goes beyond the visual. It means I see into you and know your heart. Sigourney Weaver is wonderful as Dr. Grace Augustine and is a friend to the Na’vi. She provides the heart for her “team” of scientists and has more knowledge of the planet than anyone else. Joel Moore plays a wonderful supporting role as Norm Spellman, who also likes the Na’vi and travels to intermingle with them with his Na’vi body. Michelle Rodriguez plays a helicopter pilot who is one of the “good guys” and Giovanni Ribisi is excellent as Parker Selfridge, one of the corporate “greedy” guys. The entire cast is excellent.

Jake’s orders are to gain the trust of the Na’vi and provide solid intelligence about the Na’vi defensive capabilities to Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), the ramrod head of security for the mining consortium and the movie’s villain. But as Jake comes to see things through Neytiri’s eyes and the eyes of her people, he hopes to establish enough trust between the humans and the natives to negotiate a peace. But the corporation wants the land the Na’vi occupy for its valuable raw material so the Colonel sees no purpose in this.

Toward the end of the movie, there is a massive battle. The planet’s animal life, including the flying dragons and fierce creatures on land, all go into battle with the Na’vi. The humans attack them with projectiles, bombs and armor. The Na’vi have little hope of surviving against the humans.  

Mauro Fiore’s cinematography is dazzling as it melts all the visual elements into a science-fiction whole. You believe in Pandora. You could see yourself living there and romping through the gorgeous fields of light-filled flowers and rainforests. Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg’s design brings Cameron’s screenplay to life with disarming ease and stunning visuals.

James Horner’s score subtly transports the action on while the editing attributed to Cameron, Stephen Rivkin and John Refoua maintains a breathless pace that exhilarates and keeps you on the edge of your seat. I found myself holding my breath at times – the beauty was so intense – the romance so heartfelt.  Now, I am wishing for Avatar: Part II. This is a movie I will go and see several times.

 Note: Avatar storms worldwide box office with $232 million according to Screeninglog.com. Although hampered by furious snow storms in the north-eastern United States, James Cameron’s big-budget action feature Avatar took the No. 1 spot at the North American box office over the weekend. James Cameron’s Avatar also topped the international box office this weekend with a stunning opening of $159.2 million in 106 markets. Domestically, the 3D sci-fi epic adventure bagged $73 million. That brings the weekend total of the action spectacle to $232.2 million; an impressive result. The film’s budget is now estimated at a massive $280 million, not including the 100+ million for marketing.

Also making a lot of money is The Twilight Saga: New Moon, which bagged another $10.7 million at No. 2 for a total overseas gross of $381.1 million. Worldwide, the sequel has now grossed $655.7 million.  

Following are the lyrics for I See You, sung by Leona Lewis during the end credits in Avatar. To order the soundtrack, please go to Amazon.com.  

I see you
I see you
Walking through a dream
I see you
My light in darkness breathing hope of new life
Now I live through you and you through me
Enchanting
I pray in my heart that this dream never ends
I see me through your eyes
Living through life flying high
Your life shines the way into paradise
So I offer my life as a sacrifice
I live through your love
You teach me how to see
All that’s beautiful
My senses touch your word I never pictured
Now I give my hope to you
I surrender
I pray in my heart that this world never ends
I see me through your eyes

Living through life flying high
Your love shines the way into paradise
So I offer my life
I offer my love, for you
When my heart was never open
(and my spirit never free)
To the world that you have shown me
But my eyes could not division
All the colors of love and of life ever more
Evermore
(I see me through your eyes)
I see me through your eyes
(Living through life flying high)
Flying high
Your love shines the way into paradise
So I offer my life as a sacrifice
And live through your love
And live through your life
I see you
I see you